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ARC H
VOL. 34 , NO.3
2 6
ONTENTS
1
Straight and Level
by Geoff Robison
2 VAA News
4
Aeromail
6 A Silver Eag le
Part II - Hightlights of 1930
A
biography
of
E.
M.
Matty Laird
by Robert
G.
E
ll
io
tt
and
Ed Esca ll
on
2
Type Clubs to Oshkosh
Row after row after row
by Tim Fox
4 Din
nd
orf, Doolittle, & Their Stinson
Nearly lost to the ages, a historic airplane makes a comeback
by Budd Davisson
20 54 Days With
the Blue
Pho
enix
[s
it
an
end, or a begi
nni
ng?
by Gl
en
Scott
25 Pass I t to Bu ck
Here's the dri
ll
by Buck Hilbert
26 100
Years
at Huffman Prairie
The Wrights' home
fie
ld advant age is celebrated
by Scotty Markl
and
28
Books a
nd
Movie Review
by H.G. Fra utschy
32
The Vin
ta
ge Ins
tructor
CRM
by Doug Stewart
STAFF
E
Publisher Tom Poberezny
E Editor·in·Chief Scott Spangler
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GEOFF
ROBISON
PRESIDENT, VINTAGE AIRCRAFT AS
SO
CIATION
V
ging
ircr ft
propos l
By
now a large segment
of
our
membership
has had an opportu
nity
to review
the proposed
aging
aircraft initiatives developed by EAA
and the Vintage Aircraft Association
(VAA). Most would certainly agree
the
time
is
upon
us
to
recognize
the
need for some resolution to these
long-term issues. The intent here
is to create a new,
optional
aircraft
certification category
that
will give
owners
and their mechanics the
ability to maintain vintage aircraft
using
safety-based
forms,
with
fit
and function
criteria,
as
opposed
to
unavailable
or outdated type
certificate data.
Contrary
to some
misinformed
opinions
I've heard, it
is no t an
owner
maintenance pro
gram like the
one
in Canada.
Within 24 hours of the announce
ment
of this initiative we began
to
hear from
the
membership
and
rep
resentatives of the various type clubs.
Some
of
the immediate concerns we
heard: "What is the potential impact
on the value of my aircraft?" "What
impact can I anticipate from my in
point,
but
I believe these concerns
can be sufficiently addressed in an
appropriately structured rule.
We
probably
all know of at least
one
restoration project
in our
in
dividual
regional area
th a
t has se
rious
issues
because of
the
lack
of
available data
to
get it restored and
signed off for flight , not to
men
tion
those aircraft
that
will remain
EAA/VAA
proposed initiative
will be
presented
at the aging aircraft
public meeting on
March 22-23 in
Kansas City,
Missouri
in "basket"
status until the
owner
has at least some assurance
that
his
or her monetary resources and per
sonal efforts will
not
be wasted .
We
have
also
heard some great
Click on 2006 - 02/08 -
EAA
Set to
Advance Vintage Aircraft Proposal
Next Month.
This jOint EAA/VAA-proposed ini
tiative will be presented at the aging
aircraft public
meeting
on
March
22-23
in
Kansas City,
Missouri
.
The proposa l, which conceptually
met with approval by key
mem
bers
of the FAA
management
team
during
the
EAA/FAA
Recreational
Aviation
Summit, was presented
Tuesday,
February
7, in
Washing
ton,
D.C.,
to representatives
from
the
National
Air
Transportation
As
sociation (NATA), General Aviation
Manufacturers Association
(GAMA),
Professional Aviation
Maintenance
Association (PAMA), Aircraft Own
ers
and
Pilots Association (AOPA),
the
Aircraft Electronics Association
(AEA),
and others.
In
other
news,
the
VAA
was
deeply saddened to hear
of the
re
cent death of
Daryl Lenz
in
a traffic
accident near his home. Daryl served
as the director
of
aircraft
mainte
nance
at
the
Kermit
Weeks
Han
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Lawrence to Speak
on
Aging
Aircraft
EAA Vice
President of Industry and
Regulatory
Affairs
Earl
Lawrence will
speak at a two-day public meeting
on
aging aircraft, scheduled for March
22-23 in Kansas City, Missouri. The
meeting will emphasize what can be
done to mitigate the effects of fatigue,
corrosion, and deterioration
on
aging
general aviation airplanes.
PartiCipants will share informa
tion, resolve questions, and discuss
potential
solutions
regarding
the
continued airworthiness of older
GA
airplanes. The current fleet average is
approximately 35 years old and will
increase to
SO
years old by 2020.
Vintage Aircraft Association Ex-
ecutive Director H.G.
Frautschy
also plans to share expertise at the
meeting, which
is
slated to begin at
8 a.m. each day, with registration at
8 a.m. on March 22.
Individuals may submit a request
to present a statement at the meet
ing.
If
unable to attend, either mail
a
statement to FAA
Small Airplane
Directorate, FAA Central Region, At
tention: Mr. Marv Nuss, 901 Locust,
Room 301, Kansas City, MO 64106,
or e-mail marvin.nuss@{aa.gov.
VAA Board Members Retire
Bob Brauer, of Chicago, Illinois,
and Roger Gomoll, of Blaine, Min
nesota, decided to step down from
the
VAA
board last year, and during
V
Ques
ti
on
of
the
onth
Q
fly a neat old biplane, and sometimes need to extend my day
a bit on the trip home. y take on the required lights needed for
: ~ y i n
at n i ~ t
are position lights plus an anti-collision light,
eIther a rotating beacon and/or strobes. My friend says antiques are
grandfathered in here and that they don't need anything but position lights.
Can you shed some, er light, on this subject?
A
An
Antique
Flier
(the airplane, not the pilot )
: Antiques and classics are definitely reqUired to have an
anti-collision lighting system as well as navigation lights if they want to
fly at night . The only grandfathered part
is
they have to meet the ear
lier requirements for the placement and coverage of the anti-collision
beacon, rather than having to meet the most current requirements. It
basically comes down to having a strobe or rotating beacon on either
the
top
or
the bottom
of
the
aircraft (belly, tip of
the
vertical, or wher
ever); that s sufficient for aircraft that wete type-certificated before April
I, 1957. These aircraft
can t
get by without
anything
or just position
lights, but they don t need as extensive a system as a more modern air
plane would need.
Since
you
asked,
here s
a
bit
more
on requirements
for flying at
night:
CFR
4
Part
91 205
c)
Visual flight rules (night). For
VFR
flight
at
night,
the
following
in
struments
and equipment
are required:
1)
Instruments and equipment specified in paragraph (b) of this section.
2) Approved pOSition lights.
3)
An approved
aviation
red
or
aviation
white
anti-collision light
system
on
all U.S .-registered civil aircraft. Anti-collision
light
systems
initially installed after August 11, 1971,
on
aircraft for which a type cer
tificate was issued or applied for before August 11, 1971,
must
at
least
meet
the anti-collision light standards of
part
23, 25, 27, or 29 of this
chapter, as applicable, that were in effect
on
August 10, 1971, except
that the color may be either aviation red or aviation white. In
the
event
of failure of
any
light of
the
anti-collision light system, operations with
http:///reader/full/marvin.nuss@%7Baa.govhttp:///reader/full/marvin.nuss@%7Baa.gov
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nance chairman for many years. For
well more than a decade, Bob worked
with Roger's father, the late Stan Go
moll, as they kept the VAA's build
ings in good repair and oversaw the
updating of some structures on the
VAA grounds. He's worn a number of
hats as chairman, including co-chair
of the Parking committee
and
he
served for more than a decade as the
board's point of contact man for
VAA
Chapters and the EAA Chapter Office.
Bob was asked to come on board as
an adviser to the
VAA
board in 1986,
and became a director in 1988, a po
sition he held until his retirement in
the summer of 200S. Bob is still ac
tive
as
a volunteer, and if you make it
to any of the VAA work parties during
this spring, he'll be happy to find you
some work to
do
Roger
comes
by
his
work
for
VAA naturally;
his father, Stan,
was a longtime
board member
and
active
vol
unteer who
en-
couraged his
son's love of avi
ation. Roger has served
EAA as
a vol
unteer for
many
years, including his
time at
EAA's
Pioneer Airport, where
Roger can
often
be
found
grinning
as
he gives another ride
to
a paying
customer
in
EAA's
Travel
Air
biplane.
Appointed to the VAA board after his
father's untimely passing, Roger has
been right in the thick
of
things, serv
ing as
the
Type Club chairman,
and
during
the
year he served
the
board
atnIP.nrHM_nrtl for complete details.
M AlrVenture
Planning Guide
What
Do
You
Want
t
Know
Forums and
workshops
te ch aviation
A wise man once said, If it has
Once you've made the decision
to
attend
EAA
AirVenture Oshkosh
2006, you can't
just
wait for July,
hop into the cockpit, and show up.
You need to start planning, and
now
A great way to start is by download
ing the
EAA
AirVenture 2006 Plan
ning Guide, now available at www
airventure.org.
The
handy document includes es
sential information about admission,
lodging, driving directions, commer
cial flights, vehicle rental, ground
transportation services, and a lot
more. Get your copy today and start
http:///reader/full/airventure.orghttp:///reader/full/airventure.org
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Helio ourier Notes
If your Helio H-391-B, H-250, or
H-295 has in excess of 3,600 hours
and needs
to
be
upgraded per
Air
worthiness Directive 82-16-08
Amendment
39-4427, parts are be
coming an issue with older airplanes
in
the
field.
Several Helio owners have asked
us recently about the availabil
ity of
new
parts, the current
own
ers of Helio Aircraft.
LLC
are
not
presently manufacturing replace
ment
items
such
as
leading-edge
slats
and
wing
carry-through
as
semblies. With the current fleet at
around
200
airplanes, those
older
models that have 4,500
hours
plus
are in need of replacement items.
We
can at this point direct you to
rebuilders with an excellent reputa
tion and knowledge in Helio Couriers
based upon many years of experience.
The following individuals
and/
or organizations
may
be of
some
assistance.
JAARS Aviation
Div.
Jim Metzler,
Head of
Maintenance
Waxhaw, North Carolina
www jaars org
Aero Pacific
Steve Murray
Carlsbad, California
760-931-0022
A complete list of
Helio
main
tenance personnel
is
to
be
made
available March
I,
2006.
For additional information visit
www heliocourier net
International Young
Eagles Day
GIVING BACK
EAA Vintage
Chapter
27
in
Delaware,
Ohio
(DLZ),
is
a small but busy
group.
Chapter 27
had
a very successful air show in August of 2004 and
is
planning another
for August 2006.
We
also
have
a
pancake
breakfast
on
the third
Saturday
of
each month
from May through September.
As
a result, for the first time since the
Chapter
was organized in the early
1990s, we have some assets in the bank.
We
wanted
to give
back to the community that has
supported
our
organization. As
a result,
the
city
has
donated land on
the
airport
for
us to build a shelter house to be available to the public and we have
enclosed
one end
of
it
for the VAA kitchen for our pancake
breakfast
and
meetings.
Chapter 27
and donations
from local businesses have supported the
shelter costs. The city
assisted
us with trusses and some heavy work,
and
our
members
have
done the rest. We have
had
a lot of fun
with the
construction
project and
plan to
finish
the interior this
winter and be
ready in May for our pancake breakfasts.
Sincerely,
Roger
R.
Brown
VAA
Chapter
27 President
http:///reader/full/www.jaars.orghttp:///reader/full/www.heliocourier.nethttp:///reader/full/www.heliocourier.nethttp:///reader/full/www.heliocourier.nethttp:///reader/full/www.jaars.orghttp:///reader/full/www.heliocourier.net
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Friends of
the
Red Barn
Campaign
Many services are provided to vintage aircraft en
thusiasts at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. From parking
airplanes to feeding people
at
the
Tall Pines Cafe
and
Red Barn, more
than
400 volunteers do it all. Some
may ask, If volunteers are providing the services,
where
is
the expense?"
Glad you asked. The scooters for the flight line crew
need repair and batteries, and the
Red
Barn needs
paint, new windowsills, updated wiring, and other
sundry repairs, plus we love to care for
our
volun teers
with special recognition caps
and
a pizza party.
The
list really could go
on
and
on,
but
no matter how
many expenses we can point out, the need remains
constant . The Friends of the Red Barn fund helps pay
for the VAA expenses at EAA AirVenture, and is a cru
cial part of the Vintage Aircraft Association budget.
Please help the VAA and our 400-plus dedicated
volunteers make this an unforgettable experience for
our many
EAA
AirVenture guests. We've
made
it even
more fun to give this year, with more giving levels to
fit each person's budget, and more interesting activi
ties for donors to be a part of.
Your
contribution
now really does make a differ
ence. There are six levels of gifts and gift recognit ion .
Thank
yo u for whatever you
can
do.
Here are some of
th
e many activities the Friends of
the
Red Barn
fund
underwrites:
• Red Barn Informat ion Desk Supplies
• Participant Plaques and Supplies
Toni
's Red Carpet Express Repairs and Radios
• Caps for VAA Volunteers
• Pizza
Party for
VAA
Volunteers
• Flightline Parking Scooters and Supplies
• Breakfast for Past Grand Champions
• Volunteer Booth Administrative Supplies
• Membership Booth Administrative Supplies
• Signs Throughout the Vintage Area
• Red Barn and Other Buildings' Maintenance
•
And More
Th ank·
You
Items
by Level
Name Listed:
Vintage, Web
& Sign
at
Red
Barn
Donor
Appreciation
Certificate
Access to
Volunteer
Center
Special
FORB
Badge
Two P
asses
to
VAA
Volunteer
Party
Special
FORB
Cap
Breakfast
at
Tall
Pines
Cafe
Tr i·Motor
Ride
Certificate
Two Tickets
toVAA
Pi
cnic
Close Auto
Parking
Diamond,
1,000
X X X X X X
2
People
/
Full Wk
2 Tickets
X
Full Week
Platinum,
750
X X X X X X
2 People/
Full
Wk
2 Ticke
ts
X 2 Days
Gold,
500
X X X
X X
X
1
Person
/ Full Wk
1 Ticket
Silver.
250
X
X X X X X
Bronze
100
X
X
X
X
Loyal Supporter,
99
&
Under
X X
VAA
Friends
of the Red
Barn
Name
EAA
____ VAA ___
_
Address _
City/State/Zip __
_
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PART
II
HIGHLIGHTS
OF
1930
A
biography of
E
.M. Matty
Laird
y ROBERT
G
ELLIOTT
AND
ED
ESCALLON
The highlight of 1930 proved to
be the design
and construction of
the
Solution
racer,
which
became
the first and only biplane to win the
coveted
Thompson
Trophy
Race
for
the fastest aircraft of the day. The
Solution had been built in a record
30 days
and was completed just one
hour before the race. In the follow
ing year, Matty s newest racer, the
Super Solution became
the
first air
craft
to win the
new
Bendix Tro
phy, setting
the
trans-continental
speed record of 11 hours, 15 min
Matty and Elsie Laird enjoy
their
mountain
retreat
on the shores of Lake Tox-
utes, under the capable pilotage of
away North Carolina
and sat
momentarily for this photograph in July 1975.
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Laird
Solution
in which Speed Holman
won
the Thompson Trophy Race in 1930.
This
aircraft was 30 days old the day of the race having been
completed
about one hour
before
the race
began
allowing time
enough
for a
short
test hop and refueling
due
to a
short
postponement of the Thompson Race
start.
LEFT: Speed Holman.
Full view
o completed
Laird Sesquiwing.
of-a-kind Laird was
not
preserved
instead of being destroyed.
The middle '30s saw the develop
ment of a huge airline
industry
in
this country. Chicago became a ma
jor airline hub and drew heavily on
the aviation talent in the area. Many
of Matty's employees went with the
airlines during the lean year that en
veloped the Laird Co., and a few are
still involved in the
management
of
this industry today.
After a few years of
operation,
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Photograph taken at
the 1930
Chicago
National Air
Races which
were conducted at
Curtiss-Reynolds Airport
Chicago. Speed
Holman is shown
at
right rounding
a
pylon
in
the
Laird
Solution. Upper
center
is
what
is
believed to
be
the
plane
of Arthur Page who
was
pulling out
of
the
race. Page made
a
crash
landing and died of injuries while Holman went
continued into
1937,
when
Roscoe
Turner brought in two projects just
two
months
before
the
National
Air
Races. They were his damaged
We-
dell-Williams
and
a partially com
on
to
win the
Thompson Trophy
Race.
ment with Roscoe.
Obsolescence
and
technical problems
prevented
it from ever again placing in a ma
jor event.
Roscoe s second major project was
built with
the
internal drag bracing
lightened, and
a greatly
improved
fuselage
attach method
was incor
porated. Existing ailerons were used,
with
the
flaps extended to cover the
span added to
the
wing. The result
ing loading of 50 pounds per square
foot was
among
the
highest used
in
aircraft at
the
time,
and much
tech
nical
comment centered
about it.
Actually,
the
wing
turned
out to be
one of
the really
outstanding
as
pects of
the
racer,
and
its configu
ration
was widely copied
in
World
War
II
fighters.
Additionally, Matty added about
a
square foot
to
the elevator
sur
face
area
and completely outfit
ted the
fuselage
structure almost
from scratch. Larger fuel tanks
than
Brown
had planned
on using were
included. In
many
respects
the
ren
ovation
of
the
Laird-Turner Racer
was
more
difficult
than building
a
completely new aircraft.
When
finished, a
weight check
confirmed Matty had
eliminated
more
than
400 pounds of weight just
from
the
parts Brown had shipped
him. The
LTR 14
was tested success
fully
and
accepted
by
Roscoe,
who
proceeded to California in it on
its second flight.
In
succeeding years the
Laird
Turner Racer served
to change
the
fortunes of tough-luck Roscoe. Dur
ing the
1937
Thompson,
Roscoe,
who
was leading
the
race, was mo
mentarily blinded by
the
sun while
rounding
a pylon. Turning back to
re-circle
the
pylon, he lost his lead
to
Earl
Ortman and
Rudy Kling. In
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Jimmy
Doolittle
. _ . ~
i
n
UJ
ti
>
8
/)
5
::t:
is
congratulated
by
Ma
tty
Laird
after
winning
the
Bend
ix Race
September
1931.
occasion
had become Miss ham-
pion
This
victory made him the
only man to
ever win the coveted
Thompson Trophy three times. De-
spite
the
credit
due
Matty, Roscoe
never properly recognized
him.
Matty, however, never pressed
the
issue, saying, That 's just
the
way
Roscoe was.
Turner's victories plus
those
ear
lier
in
the
decades by the
Solu
tion
and
Super Solution gave Laird
planes three first
and
two third
places
in
the Thompson
Races,
one irst
in
the
Bendix,
and
a trans
continental and
tri-Capitol speed
record, in addition to at least
a
dozen different inter-city records.
For a small civil-based aircraft fac
tory,
the E M
Laird Co.
had won
a
large share of
the
records
and
races
of
the
'30s,
due to the
skill of
the
employees
and the
genius of E.M.
Matty Laird.
As
this country's involvement in
the
World War
II
became more im
minent,
Matty
realized
i t
was go
~ ~
~ ~ ~
Laird Turner
on
the
line after
being rebuiH
by
the E. fam
il-
iar Laird
trademark on the tail
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successfully
met
the challenges of
wartime
materials
shortages with
a labor force
consisting
mostly of
women
.
Although untrained,
and
faced
with
schedules
that doubled
every
month
, they rapidly grew into
a skilled team
under the
able guid
ance of Matty.
His
talents in produc
tion were directed to the product ion
of B-24 and
SB2C
vertical fins, com
plete empennage groups for Martin
B-26s,
and numerous other
items,
such
as
wing flaps, radio cabinets,
crew bunks, and de-icer
tanks
for
the Martin
PBM
.
Matty never
had any
interest in
military aircraft, with the possible
ex
ception of building a trainer for
the
armed services.
He
had lost an early
bid for a trainer in the Laird Swallow
days, when Maj. Reuben Fleet, a pro
curement officer
for
the
Army,
vetoed
the purchase.
Fleet
later resigned from
the Army and organized the Consoli
dated Aircraft Co. , which received the
verted engine
that Continental
was
developing. In considering
the
cap
italization costs involved that
had
doubled since the '30s, and know
ing firsthand
the boom-bust
mar
ket that followed
the
previous war,
Matty
decided
to
retire from the
aviation business.
An
additional factor tha t prompted
his
decision
was the fact
that his
daughter
had
contracted
polio. At
the
time, the only known treatment
was
frequent immersions in warm
water combined with physical ther
apy. Consequently, Matty decided to
move to a warmer climate, choosing
Boca Raton, a small
community on
the lower east coast of Florida. There,
he and
his l
ovely
Elsie,
whom he
married in 1933, devoted themselves
to raising their son and daughter.
In later years the Lairds purchased
some
land in the
Lake
Toxaway
area of
North
Carolina
and
built a
home
. The lake had been a million
The Laird Speedwing
olution
(Pratt Whitney
Wasp Junior
engine)
Winner First Place
-Thompson
Trophy ace-
Chicago
, Illinois, September 1, 1930
Average
speed
201.91 mph
for 100-mile race
(20 laps around a
5-mile
course)
Piloted
y
C.W.
Speed
Holman
organization of pilots who made
their
first flight
before December
17, 1916. Matty also became active
in the
Connecticut
Aeronautical
Historical Association's restoration
of
the
Solution beginning in 1964.
He first became acquainted with
the
Florida Sport Antique
and
Clas
sic
Association at the Remuda Ranch
Fly-In during
November 1974,
where he was
an
honored
guest.
There
he
joined
the EAA.
In recog
nition of
his many
achievements
prior
to
1940,
Matty
was awarded
the
coveted
Silver Eagle
member
ship
in
the
association. Since
then
the
Lairds have been active in
EAA
,
being
honored
among
the
avia
tion
greats
at
Oshkosh, 1975,
and
appearing
at
many
EAA
functions
throughout the
state of Florida.
His
present
work
on
EAA s
res
toration
of the Super Solution has
brought him back, full circle, to the
work to which he began devoting his
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 2006
13/44
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8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 2006
14/44
H.G. FR UTSCHY
D
d you notice the rows of the
same aircraft parked together
at
Oshkosh thi s year? There
were Cessna 170s, Aeroncas,
Taylorcrafts,
and
Swifts. Last year i t
was Stinsons and Helio Couriers. Ever
wonder
how they
all got to park to
gether in such a great spot? It 's simple.
The Vintage Aircraft Association
provides a limited reserved parking
area for type clubs. The type clubs are
a part of Vintage activities, and year
round
they support their particular
aircraft
through
activities such
as fo-
rums, chat rooms,
and
newsletters on
topics that range from historic infor
mation to the latest maintenance is-
sues. Type clubs can be found during
the convention in
the
large tent just
BY TIM
Fox
VAA
TYPE CLUB PARKING
COORDI
NATOR
the members
as
well. Nothing is worse
than doing all the work, planning, and
publicity, only to have
no
one show up.
It had been several years since the Stin
sons had been in a group at Oshkosh,
and the club directors were excited
about the possibilities. You have to start
early in your planning efforts, and we
started right after Oshkosh 2003 with
announcements in the club newsletter.
This past year's type club groups were
organized and had their spots set up
before the end of 2004.
You should estimate
the
attendance
potential of
your group
so you
can
request space in the type club area.
Space is limited, and to reserve space,
VAA
is looking
for a solid commit-
ment
from
your
group. You should
accommodate a few different types
every year), the wingspan of the air
craft, and a contact person who will
be
coordinating the
event.
Your re
quest should be forwarded
to VAA
and they will forward it to the type
club parking coordinator.
lanning
Several steps are necessary to en
sure a successful
event
for your club.
Developing interest and enthusiasm
will ensure that you have a good turn
out
and provide a good
time
for all.
Many
of your
members may have
never been to Oshkosh or have not
come for many years. Some
may
at
tend
every year
but
park randomly,
and not with a group.
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for
the
event in every
month's
issue
of the
club newsletter. I
wanted
to
be sure that all
the
pilots knew
what
was going to happen
and
what
they
could expect. It's important for pilots
to make
the commitment early so
other summertime activities don't use
up available leisure time. This
can't
be done on a last-minute basis. Also,
when
planned
ahead, variables such
as fuel costs, meals,
and
lodging do
not playas big a role.
Arrival
Many
of
you
have
seen the large
group
arrivals
of
the Bonanzas and
Mooneys. Almost all pilots come in
through
the
normal NOTAM
arrival
from Ripon,
but
if your group is large
enough, you may qualify for a special
arrival. The type club parking coor
dinator can help you find out if your
group
qualifies.
With special type
club parking reserved, how
and
when
your group arrives does not matter, as
they are assured that their parking is
reserved together.
Parking
When
most people arrive at Osh
kosh
they
hold up placards that say
VAC for
vintage
aircraft
parking.
They
are
directed to
Papa
taxiway
and head south into
the
Vintage area.
Once they arrive
they
are parked in
the next available open spot,
in
rows
going south. The sooner you get there,
the closer you are to the action. As
many
of you know, a late arrival can
find you closer to Fond du Lac than
Oshkosh Type club reserved aircraft
ter
your aircraft, pay for camping if
you're camping on the field,
and
get
admission wris tbands for your stay.
Shortly after your arrival and regis
tration, Vintage volunteers will come
out and take a picture
of
your plane
and it will be placed on a participant
plaque. This
is
available free
to VAA
members, courtesy of the Vintage Air-
craft Association in the Vintage Red
Barn Headquarters building.
You
are
also entitled to a free participant mug.
If
you ask
the
participant plaque staff
in the back of the hospitality center in
the Red Barn, they can come out
and
take a special picture of you with your
aircraft for
the
plaque. This plaque is
available for all
VAA participants at
Oshkosh. While at the Red Barn you
can check out the activities, browse
the
VAA
store,
or
check
out the
type
club
and
workshop tents.
Activities
This is
the
cornerstone of your type
club event. Plan activities for
your
group. The type club parking coordi
nator can help you with suggestions
and
arrangements for
ground
trans
portation, restaurant reservations,
or
group activities. This should all be set
up
as
soon
as possible, as you
need
plenty
of
time
to
advertise
in your
club newsletter.
If
you're stuck for ideas on what to
do, here's some good
news-the VAA
already has things scheduled that you
can participate in as a group, such as
the
VAA
picnic. It's a great
time
for
your type club to get together and
have dinner at
the
EAA Nature Center
bus to transport everyone. The turn
out
was so large we had to charter
an
additional
bus to handle the group
Stinson owners from all over the field
wanted
to
join in,
and
hopefully we
gained some new membership. The
type club rented a van so the mem
bers
had
a way
to
travel into town to
resupply and get items not available
on field.
With the heavy
airspace
traffic
around Oshkosh
and
the
problems of
moving and parking aircraft, daily
fly-
outs are
not
encouraged, but
on
Satur
day there is a fly-out to Shawano, Wis-
consin, that your group can participate
in. Shawano is approximately
S
miles
north of Oshkosh, so it's a short flight.
There is a signup list at
the
Vintage
Red
Barn,
and
a briefing is held early
Saturday
morning
for
participants.
This is a
great fl
y-in hosted by the
town,
and they
really enjoy
the
vin
tage aircraft coming from Oshkosh. If
you provide a list
of
your pilots
they
will send
an
invitation. All arriving pi
lots get a free breakfast, ice cream, and
some Wisconsin cheese. Of course,
your parking places are saved back in
Oshkosh, so you can leave your camp
setup and come back at your leisure.
There's really a lot for your group
to
do
Parking within your aircraft group
is fun and a learning experience. Com
mon interests and experiences
are
shared by owners with the same type
of
plane. It's also
an opportunity to
look at other aircraft to
see
how things
were done. It's any easy way to see what
modifications may be available
and
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time, a pilot leaves something behind
in the airplane's soul. Tom Dinndorf
of Baudette,
Minnesota,
is
acutely
aware of that,
and
he
doesn't
take
the responsibility lightly.
I've
owned this airplane
for
over 30 years
and
carted its remains
around
to
various
locations as I
moved, he said. Eventually, I re
alized I
wasn't
going
to
get
the
air
plane done in my lifetime, and that
just wasn't right. lowed
it
to the
airplane
and to
history
to
get it fin
ished.
Thank
goodness I found Rod
and
Dottie Roy. They are the only
reason the airplane is finished, and
they should get all of
the
credit.
As
Dinndorf got
into
the
project,
researching its history became a near
obsession, but just as it's difficult
to
prove Washington Slept Here, it's
often impossible to prove a given pi
lot has flown a given airplane. Unless,
could take a look at the logbooks
and
get back to him. I
didn
't expect
him
to
drop
what
he was
doing
and
search,
but that
was exactly
what he
did.
He had
me
hold on while he
got the logbook and
thumbed
back
to
August '38. He said,
'Yes,
on
Au
gust 13th it says 'acceptance flight,
new Stinson, 15 minutes.' I can't tell
you
how
that
made
me
feel. Today, I
have copies of all of Doolittle's Stin
son log entries , and I periodically
pull them out and look at them
to
convince
myself the Doolittle con
nection is real. It's
almost
scary to
own and fly an airplane with that
much history
to
it.
Although
the
Stinson
is
a work of
art today, it wasn't always
that
way. In
fact, it has spent far more time in der
elict and/or project condition
than it
did in flying condition.
The last
time
the airplane flew,
The luxurious front
office
of
the tin-
son
and
its massive control wheels
a thread: The dual vandals of weather
and
human
nature can
reduce
an
airplane in this situation
to
junk in
nothing flat unless a savior rides over
the horizon. NC21104 was lucky. Its
savior was named Luke Youngren.
Dinndorf
said, In 1971 I heard
about
the
airplane and thought I'd
like to restore an antique. I went over
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 2006
19/44
this. I put the
fu
selage in my base
ment shop and
the wings in the
garage, thinking
I'd start
restor
ing it. I bought a
compressor and
sandblaster
and
started cleaning
the fuselage and I
think that's when
the lights started
coming
on
that
this was going to
be a much big
ger project than I
thought it
was."
Dinndorf had worked in his father's
pharmacy as a youngster and, when
he went to college, continued in that
direction. Eventually
he
was in the
manufacturing end of the pharma
ceutical business and found himself
leaving Minnesota for Atlanta.
"I trailered the fuselage down be
hind a little 2-liter Oldsmobile. We
were so marginal
on
power that we
couldn't run the air conditioner and
climb even
the
slightest hill, so
we
just rolled
the
windows down and
sweated all the way.
When I got to Atlanta, life took
over
and
I barely
touched
the air
plane. It was sad. And I
was
getting
really frustrated.
Here
I had this amaz
ing historical artifact and I couldn't
do anything with
it "
Life
eventually
seems to work
things out, and after he moved back
to Minnesota, he met Rod Roy and
Roy's
wife,
Dottie. "I
was
at Oshkosh
service FBO in
that
we do every type
of maintenance except avionics. The
restoration projects are part of that.
His first rebuild project was the
ratty C-140 he and Dottie had
bought. We took it
to
Oshkosh
as
part of that 150 or so C-140 gaggle,
and ours was the airplane the EAA
singled
out
for photos when they
were covering the event.
Rod's
first big project was a pair of
Christen Eagles,
one
of which won
a grand champion Lindy at Osh
kosh. Along the
way,
Dottie, who
is
a trained and experienced nurse, be
came part of the restoration team.
Almost from the beginning,
Rod
remembered, she'd do all of the rib
stitching and got really good at it. At
the time, I didn't do upholstery and
usually bought a kit and installed it.
We
were in
the
process of installing
one of those when Dottie said, 'Hey, I
can do that.' She took a trade school
course in upholstery
at
night for a
year and has been doing all of our in
teriors since.
Almost since the beginning,
Rod
had been doing the motors for his
re
builds,
so
adding upholstery rounded
out his in-house capabilities.
We usually spend a little more
time with a restoration than other
shops,
but
that's deceiving because
we aren't farming anything out. We're
a one-stop restoration operation, and
the
airplane never leaves our build
ing. Plus, I have to give credit to my
shop crew. They're a group of really
motivated and talented guys.
Our first restoration that gained
any notoriety
was
the red-and-black
ized
that
as negative as I had been, I
had underestimated it badly. It
was
far
from being a hopeless basket case,
but it was far worse than I initially
thought it was. It took us about a
week
to
figure out what we had, but
then it took over three years before
we figured out what we didn't have.
While
Rod was banging on
the
airplane, Tom continued scroung
ing, splitting his time between dig
ging up historical information and
missing parts.
Tom said, We
had
a lot of peo
ple really help us on this, including
George Alleman, president of the
Na
tional Stinson Club, but finding and
visiting Jerry Arnold,
another
Gull
wing restorer up in Winnipeg, got us
some of the hardest-to-find parts, in
cluding the front seats. The back seats
are just slings, so
Rod
could fabricate
those, but the front seats are very
unique. Jerry has a trucking company
and a nose for wrecked Stinsons. Since
the airplane
was
sort of a 'poor man's
Beaver,' lots of them
were
used in Ca
nadian bush
flying
and many
were
torn up in the process. Many were
just
abandoned
or
pushed
against
hangars. Jerry scouted
them
out and
backhauled them to his hangar.
The front seats I got still had the
original leather
on
them, which was
good because we could then do a bet
ter job of duplicating the material and
the pattern
. He also
had
a vacuum
tank that
I
had
just about given up
on finding.
The original concept Eddie Stinson
had, when it came to building his air
planes, was that they should be lim
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 2006
20/44
The Great Doolittle/Porta
Potti
Ambush
Tom Dinndorf admits to being a
Doo
little nut. Which is actually a huge
un
derstatement.
" I'm a little frustrated that so many
people only remember him for the To
kyo
raid when there are so many other
things he should be remembered for.
Besides his achievements in air racing,
he
pioneered instrument flight, did the
first outside loop, and if he hadn 't read
Hitler's mind
and
talked Shell into set
ting up production o f 100-0ctane fuel
in
the 1930s,
we
would have been
in
real
trouble in the early days of WW II.
"During the four years
we
worked
on
this airplane, Doolittle was never more
than a millimeter from
my
mind or from
the heart of this project. I had read
ev- Tom
Dinndorf,
proud caretaker of
erything I could
on
him and searched
the DooliHlelSheli
Stinson.
the
archives in every museum you
could think of looking for things that would tie him to our airplane.
"During one search at the Smithsonian , I stumbled
on
a really nice 8
by-10 of our airplane
in
the original Shell paint job, and I wanted
e s p ~ r
ately to not only meet Doolittle, but to show him the picture.
My ~ p p o r ~ u n l t y
came some years ago at Oshkosh when he chaired a panel
on
air racing.
" I won't say that I was actually 'stalking' him.
Well
maybe I was.
Anyway
I spotted him
in
the crowd just as
he
stepped into a Porta Potti. I waited.
un
til he came out, and introduced myself. I should also say that I was a little
nervous but
he
could not
have
been more congenial or gracious.
We
talked
about airplane and him having flown it. Then I showed him the picture ,
and
without asking,
he
took it
away
for a few minutes and came back
hav
ing signed it for me. I'm too old to do double back flips, but if I could have,
I would have.
He
was just so nice about it.
"Later, I saw a Discovery Channel program
on
him that featured his sec
ond son, John P I Googled the name for a phone number and hit him on the
first call. I explained the airplane thing to him , and he was just as gracious
as his father had been. Plus, he led me to Jonna Doolittle Hoppes, the
granddaughter, who was doing
an
insider book on Jimmy, Calculated Risk
He also introduced me to Jimmy Doolittle III, grandson and namesake.
wings were split between feeder air
lines, corporations and very rich
sportsmen. Although Eddie Stinson
had died in 1932, the result of a crash
at the end of a forced landing in Chi
cago's Jackson Park, the company
policy was well
entrenched
and no
corners were cut in building his air
planes. The outline of his airplanes
was very distinctive not only because
of the gull at the wing root where
it went into the fuselage, but also the
finely shaped, bumped cowls all
the
civilian Gullwings sported (military
Reliants had smooth cowls). Unfor
tunately, the
bumped
cowl loomed
large
on
Dinndorf's missing list.
It's difficult to describe how much
effort we put into trying,
and I
em
phasize 'trying,' to find the right cowl
for the airplane. I had a cowling, but
it was a smooth one, and I had de
cided very early on
that
the airplane
was going
to
be exactly,
and I
mean
exactly, the way it was
on
August 13 ,
1938, when Doolittle first
flew
the air
plane. Going with a smooth cowl sim
ply wasn't an option.
The airplane had already become
as
much a fabrication project
as
a
res-
toration
because, as Rod put it, ...
there was practically nothing on the
airplane, ei ther wood or metal, that
was rebuildable.
So
the logical solu
tion for
the
missing cowling was to
build a new one-no small project.
The bumps, rather than being formed
separately and riveted to a base cowl
ing, were part of the primary surface.
To make matters worse, the cowl ta
pered slightly toward the
rear
Tom found a metal smith, Larry
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 2006
21/44
rust,
but nothing
catastrophic,
and
luckily, the steel
truss
wing spars
weren't bad at all.
We
had to do a lit
tle welding on it, but since this was a
300-hp airplane, not a 450,
the
spars
weren't heat-treated.
If
they had been
heat-treated it would have made re
pairs much more difficult.
The very first
time
I saw
the
fu
selage, Tom remembered,
my
first
thought
was, 'This isn't made
to
fly;
all
the
tubing
is
too stout.' It's abso
lutely massive in some areas.
The steel tube spars of the Gull
wing are streamlined
with
ribs built
up from small, square aluminum tub
ing
that
is
gusseted
and
riveted to
gether.
What
makes
the
process of
restoring them so interesting
is
that
they use square aluminum tubing
that was manufactured spedfically for
Stinson. Luckily, according
to
Tom,
getting a supply of it turned out to be
no problem.
Charlie
Near,
yet another Stinson
restorer, this one from Nebraska, han
dled irrigation pipe, and he apparently
found the original dies for the rib tub
ing and had some made for his Stin
the
process
much
easier.
When it came
to
doing
the
inte
rior, they were in
trouble because
nothing of the original remained and
they were unsuccessful in finding su
f
ficient photos to use
as
a guide. They
did, however, luck out when discover
ing a series of detailed drawings.
We used
the
drawings
done
by
William Wylam,
which
were incred
ible in their detail and were drawn
from Stinsons back when they were
still in their heyday.
We
judged them
as being accurate because we looked
at his drawings of
other
airplanes for
which there were photographs to use
as
comparisons, and he was dead on.
So we
felt safe in using his work.
Dottie laid in a
supply of whole
hides and started cutting and stitch
ing, using both the original, rotting
seat upholstery and the Wylam draw
ings
as
guides.
One thing we'd like
to
ask Dottie
is
about rib stitching
the
wings:
t
the
root, they are at least 16 inches deep.
Running
a
stitching
needle that far
and being
that
accurate must be a real
art. Or does she have some tricks she
Rod Roy ace restorer from the shore
of
Lake
Superior in
Grand Mara is
Minnesota.
and was looking for a way to exactly
duplicate the colors
and the
logo. He
in
tum
plugged me
into
someone in
Shell, who not only gave us permis
sion to paint
the
logo on the airplane,
but also got us a color chip for us to
match. It's
kind
of funny because
when we gave the chip to PPG, they
found it was identified
as
Shell
Yellow
.
I guess we
could
have asked them
first,
but
we probably
wouldn't
have
trusted them anyway.
Rod is justifiably proud that every
single bit of trim, except the Stinson
logo,
is
masked paint.
Although Rod
usually does
his
own engines, he was up to his hips in
Stinson parts
and both he and
Tom
wanted to
get
the
airplane
done
in
time for Oshkosh.
So the
R-680, 300
hp
Lycoming was sent out
to
Radials
Inc., in Guthrie, Oklahoma.
So how did Tom feel
the
first time
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 2006
22/44
s
it an end, or a beginning?
F
ew airplanes deserve a bi
ography more than 1 Blue.
She started
out in Octo-
ber of 1934
as
a Fairchild
22C7D, built at the Fairch
ild factory in Hagerstown, Maryland.
This Fairchild
had character
from
the start and has touched many lives
over the past 71 years. I can tell the
story for 01 Blue
as
I have
had
the
Y GLEN
S OTT
afternoon of October 20,
2005, when Jon Bartell
and
his
son
Louis arrived
at
Ar-
lington, Texas Airport in the
afternoon.
This was a
mo-
mentous day as I waited with
friends for
their
1,000-mile
journey
to terminate
at
my
hangar.
Bartell
had
agreed to part
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 2006
23/44
Left: NC14302 28
years
after a
Jim
Dewey
restoration. This
is
the very
same
airpla
ne
featured in the 2006 V calen-
dar as published by Turner Publishing.
and blueprints. A
lO
-foot length of
sectional chart was starched on
the
wall for the crew to au tograph at
the end of their flight from Ohio.
The last 12 days
of
October
of
fered few daylight hours to fly af
ter a day of work, so enjoyed my
evenings
making
small
improve
ments and learning
the
aircraft .
managed to squeeze in a
few
flights
before the
annua
l inspection came
due . was on cloud nine
The entire month
of
Novem
ber was spent learning
the
aircraft
and performing the
annual
on this
Ralph
Schmidt retired presi-
dent of Menasco checks out the
Fairchild.
rare gem.
couldn t
believe
the
incredible craftsmanship
that
Jim Dewey and his crew
had lavished
on
the restora
tion of 01 Blue in 1977.
Jim
was
the original owner of this
The day
after
the
fire
. No
wood
fabric
and
very little
sheet
metal survived. The
annual
inspection consumed
the
month of Novem-
ber. The fire consumed everything else.
my well-equipped hangar. The
wings were
awesome to
in
-
gj
spect,
as
the woodwork was su-
b
£
perb and there
re
no
cables
pulleys or moving parts in
them. A simple push rod from
the stick to the
aileron
does
U
the job very well. The IS-foot
ailerons were damage free and
reflected Dewey's work,
as
did
the cowling
and metal
wheel
pants. Metal never fit so well
enjoyed much of getting acquainted
with
Ole Blue and
it was as if making
a new friend . realized that had a
thoroughbred that could enjoy for
many years to come.
My
next and
last flight
in
the
Fairchild was
on
December 3 with
my wife
Rosa,
when we flew locally
for
an hour and
experienced a stiff
crosswind. The controls and han-
ing edges and repainted the tips, but
now
had to put her to bed without
her cowling. Later would touch up
the
paint and
detail
that
gorgeous
Menasco engine.
The evening of December 12 was
going to visit 1 u
e
at the hangar.
As
my wife and arrived at
the
air
port in the dark, so did the fire trucks
They were also going to the T-han
gars.
Then
saw
the black smoke boil
ing from the end of a
row
of hangars.
Our row
The smoke was coming from a
spot only eight to 10 spaces from my
hangar,
but
the firemen wouldn' t let
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 2006
24/44
became truly interested in
aviation when my father
and I
started building
and
flying radio-controlled mod
els in 1970. In 1977, at
the
age of 16, I
started to
take
flying lessons, flying Grumman Tr-2
trainers and
Cessna
lS0s
. Due
to
cars, motorcycles, girls,
and
the as
sociated costs of those
aforemen
tioned items, I got
out
of flying for
a while, even though I had passed
my
FAA written
and
had about
30
hours flying time.
A childhood friend of mine, Mike
George, with
whom
I had flown ra
dio-controlled planes, had started
flying full-sized planes about the
same time I did. He continued
on
and
currently
owns many planes,
including a P-S1 Mustang and F4U
Flying as a
r t
Bec
oming
th
e first
certificated sport pilot
in
Illinois
BY MARTY TOWSLEY
t
that time
un eknownst to
me I had
ecome the fi
rs
t
certificated sport
pilot
in
Illinois.
well it flies. As a side note, both of
my parents
had
flown 1941 Taylor
clean l,3S0-hour example. While it
wasn t
a showplane, it flew nicely.
Exactly one week later, October 16,
2004, it was mine.
Mike had introduced
me
to
an
instructor who was a friend of his ,
Denny Taft . Denny was a former F-16
pilot,
is
a
current
airline pilot,
and
also had tailwheel time in a friend s
newer Taylorcraft that was based at
Taylorville, Illinois, where I was go
ing to base my aircraft. Denny and I
flew my Taylorcraft to its new home
in a stiff breeze, where I saw the cars
on the two-lane roads making better
headway
than
us.
As I had decided to become a
sport pilot
and the
rating was so
new, Denn y and I had to
liter
ally rewrite
the
book . Many of
th
e
signoffs
had to be re-created, as
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 2006
25/44
aspect
was
landing in
a
taildrag
ger, especially crosswind landings.
t one point, while walking from
the
hangar after a particularly gru
eling landing session, I dejectedly
encouraged Denny
to
let me know
if I needed to sell
the
T-craft. I told
him I completely understood if he
told me
to
sell it. He
informed
me
everyone had
the
occasional bad
day, and
even
though
there were
still rough days ahead, I was finally
successful in soloing for the second
time in my life.
I started building time and prac
ticing for
the
flight exam, but this
was where
another
stumbling block
was encountered. No one could
be located
who
could
conduct
the
flight exam in a fixed-wing cer
tificated aircraft, so I did some re
s
I left
the
building
I called
my instruc
tor, Denny,
and
told
him
of
my
conversa
tion with Don. Denny
advised
me he
had re
cently heard
of
Don
and had wanted me
to
speak
to him about
being a sport
pilot
examiner. I retraced
my steps and
spoke
with
Don about this. s
most
of
this was new
to him and
the local
FSDO, several calls and conversa
tions were made by him and the
FSDO
personnel to confirm what
was needed for him to become a
sport pilot examiner.
Finally the day arrived, and I met
a well-prepared Don for the ground
no is spoke of this event.
For the most part every
one I have come into contact
with has been supportive.
There seemed
to
be
inter
est and questions whenever
someone learned I was sport
pilot certificated, and I have
encouraged
them
to
inves
tigate this avenue of flying.
Though one or two have be
littled
the
certificate, I know
those
one or
two will
prob
ably be
looking
at this cer
tificate
when
perhaps
minor
health issues start to ap
pear and
they want to
con
tinue flying. Though I could
have
gone
on and received
my private pilot certificate, for the
time
being
I
am
happy with
my
plane
and
the type of flying I do .
I have the signoffs for Class C
and
D airspace,
and
I make
the
Sunday
morning fly-in breakfasts
with
my
friends,
as
well
as
lunch
and
dinner
dates with my supportive wife.
t seems many people I have
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Dear Fam ii t
1
NASA
is
going
to e
t
i
nRIN.
'can't
wait
v ~
Your
Pilot
In
Command
Make plans today to at tend this week-long event filled
with aviation seminars, workshops, daily airshows,
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 2006
27/44
E . BUCK
HILB E
RT
Here s the drill
Most of us
amateur
metal bend
ers and
wood
butchers
reach
for
a drill and use it with
little
or no
regard to
whether
or not
the
work
calls for a special bit for
the
particu
lar job.
Oftentimes , we re
in
a hurry,
in
the
middle of a job
that can t
wait,
so we grab a
hand
drill,
search
through
the
available bits, grab
the
one
closest to
the
size we need,
and
punch the
hole.
Hey
I t works. I
can
see daylight
coming through the hole. What
more
do
you want?
Well, if
you
go by
the book and
do the
job
as required, you take
your time, analyze the job and the
needs, find
the proper
bi t
,
make
sure
everything
is
in place,
and
then drill
the
hole.
The job s done, but
not the
way
the
book says.
Before we
talk
about
bits, let s
look at the
drill
motor
who
prefers mobility, you use
one
of
the new
rechargeable battery-
powered, variable-speed jobs that
The tip does the
actual cutting
work; the flutes al-
low transport of
first. What
type of
drill
LIP
OR
CUTTING EDGE
is
safest
to
use
around
aircraft?
Pneumatic
or
electric?
FLUTE
I guess this question
can be answered by the
mechanic himself. Some
learned using the pneu-
matic,
others the
elec
tric. And if
you
are one
th
chops away
from
th
work
doesn t have cords or hoses to get
tangled up, snag
on
the job, or trip
people.
Whatever
the choice, the
end result is
about the
same. Your
comfort level is
the
concern here.
continued on p
g
6
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EAIS
at Huffman Prairie
The Wrights' ho
m
field advantage is celebrated
ARTICLE AND PHOTOS Y
SCOTTY MARKLAND
CHAPTER
610
COUNSELOR
We had a remark the engine.
Pilot
able experience on
Mark Dusenberry re-
Monday, October 3, leased the weight on
2005.
We watched
as
the
catapult,
the
bi
a
replica
Wright
III
plane moved down
1905 biplane was cat the track, and
then
apulted
into the sky the Flyer rose from
as a re-enactment
of
the track after a
run
Orville and Wilbur s of about 50 feet. We
flights
from historic
could hear
the clat-
Huffman
Prairie,
at
Mark usenberry
Wright-Patterson Air
skims the surface
of
Force Base
in
Greene
Huffman
Prairie in his
County, Ohio . We
Wrigbt lyer III replica
were standing 500 feet
away
when
mechanics
a
few days before the
official
celebration
.
for the Flyer
III
started
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 2006
29/44
ter
of
the engine
clearly
and
saw
the
slowly
turning
propellers rotat-
ing
at
400
to
450 rpm. Except for
the
engine noise, it was very quiet.
It
was early
morning, the
fog
had
lifted,
and
the grass was
wet with
dew.
The
pilot
made
a leisurely
flight
at
25 feet of
altitude.
Time
aloft was 5
to
7 minutes, covering
a mile or less.
t
the
southwest
end
of
the
prai-
rie
the pilot
made a
ISO-degree
shallow bank and
turned
around
a small tree before returning
to the
launching
point and
landing
on
its
skids. It was eerie; it was like going
back 100 years
and
watching a 1905
Wright
airplane
flying from the
same field on a
beautiful October
morning. In your imagination you
could see
the
brothers
out
there fly-
ing their
invention,
dressed
in the
clothing of
the
day.
The group from EAA Chapter
610 was invited
to
static display our
1911 Wright B replica (more later).
There were two
other
Wright B air-
craft on display as well, the Day-
ton
Wright B
and
the
Utah College
Wright B.
There
were a
total of three
fly-
ing
Wright airplanes , and one on
static display. That's
a remark
able assembly
in
itself. During this
demonstration, there were
only
20
or 30 people present.
On
Wednes-
day, October 5
an
official dedica-
tion
marking
the
100
th
anniversary
of
the
Wrights' flights
at Huffman
Prairie was made,
with
many
digni-
taries present. Speeches were made,
general aviation airplanes over
the
prairie. Most
of these pilots
were
from Chapter 610.
A
little information about the
EAA
Chapter
610
Wright
Model
warping,
but
we
have
a
different
control system. Mark is an
inter
esting
guy. He
built the airplane
and engine, and learned to
fly
it
on
a
student permit.
All of
the
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 2006
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ne
ix Right
A movie by Brian Terwilliger
This
is
a love story.
Really.
Sure, the title leads you to believe
it s about
the
people
and
planes of gen
eral aviation
as
manifested in Van Nuys
Airport near
Los
Angeles, but it s really
all
about
the love affair so many of us
have
with
aviation. It just
happens to
be
wrapped
around
the story of
Van
Nuys and the many
people
who ve
brought
it
to
life over
the
past decades.
It s about every airport and every pilot
who ever loved his local airport
and
his fellow pilots. Twenty-nine-year-old
Brian Terwilliger, the director
and
pro
ducer of this
terrific film,
and
a
pilot
himself,
understands
that
underlying
theme
well; he subtitled his film
The
Romance ofFlying
With
the
exception of
the
IMAX for
mat
films
shot
with
an
aviation theme,
few movies have
captured the
visceral
essence
of
flying as well and as
pro
fessionally as Terwilliger
and
his crew
have in One Six Right Told
through
the
voices of those who keep the airport
alive (you may watch the entire film
before you realize there is no
narra
tor) the passion these men and women
have for flying and general aviation is
highlighted by some of
the best foot
age ever
shot
of aircraft
in
flight.
Steven Miles,
the
director of photog
raphy, and aerial directors of
photog
raphy Carston
Bell
and
Doug Holgate
all get a
standing ovation
from
me
for
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 2006
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Flying
Thoughts:
An Aviator s Flight
Through
Life
A
book by
Richard Ward
Dick Ward's
expert
ise when it comes to the Twin
Bonanza
and
its
brethren
is well known
to
Beech
crafters, but I didn't
know
much else
about
this eru
dite fellow Midwesterner until I read his self-pub
li
shed
book.
That's too bad,
because
he
strikes
me
as
the
kind
of fellow
yo
u 'd like to
get to
know. He's like
many
of
us-nuts
about
airplanes since
h e
was
a
youngster
building
stick-and-tissue
mode
ls of his fa-
vorites and then
gathering
as many
ratings
as
time
and
circumstances
would
allow.
Sprinkled with
Dick's poems
and wide-
r
anging
thoughts on
subjects as diverse as politiCS and l
earn
ing to
fly float -eq u
ipped
J-3 Cubs on the Allegheny
river
in
Pittsburgh,
you'll
never
wonder where
Dick
Ward
stands on
subjects
near and
dear
to
his h
eart
.
As a pilot,
he
shares
how the
diScipline
and
s
tru
cture
we're all
taught
can
be applied
to
everyday life. It 's a
ll
here,
and quite entertaining to
read. Flying Thoughts
can be purchased
through
the Twin Bonanza Associ
ation at
www.twinbonanza.com click on the
Market
place tab. Or you
can
write
to them
at: Twin Bonanza
Association
,
19684
Lakeshore
Drive,
Three
Rivers,
MI
49093
USA
. The 156-page
book
costs $18.95 plus
shipping
for addresses
in
the
United
States.
Katherine
Stinson:
The Flying
Schoolgirl
A book by Debra
L.
Winegarten
Published by
Eakin Press, this
133-page
book is
written primarily
for teens
and preteens,
but
th
e
story is timeless and will
be
enjoyed
by
aviation
enthusiasts of
all ages . Ms.
Winegarten has
t
aken
the
time to
fill
in many
details
of
Stinson's
life,
and
while
adding
fictiona l d ialogue
to history
books
is
not
among my
favorite literary devices,
Winegarten
does her
best
to
restrain herself
and doesn ' t
allow
manulacturers
colors
are available
.
U W l l r u l \ n n t r l g O
d
Time finishwith unllmlt d
color
choices.
problem wit th. superfine
Billy '
Dopel
AERO
CLASSIC
COLLECTOR SERIES
Vintage Tires
New USA Production
S
ho
w off y
our
pride and joy with a
fresh set of Vintage Rubber. These
ne
wl
y minted
ti r
es
ar
e FAA-TSO'd
and sp
ee
d rated to 120 MPH. Some
things are better left the way th ey
were and in the 40's and 50 's, these tires were perfectly
in
tune to the ex
ci
ting tim
es
in aviation.
Not only do these ti res set y
our
vinta
ge
plane a
part
from
http://www.twinbonanza.com-click/http://www.twinbonanza.com-click/
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 2006
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The
Spectacle ofFlight
A book
by
Robert Wohl
Published by
Yale
University Press
This
beautifully
printed volume
of
the history of
flight
during
the past
century (it still
seems
odd to
write that ) starts off with a photograph of a crowd in
front of a building
that
I
instantly
recognized; it was
the St. Louis Art Museum, with thousands of spectators
looking up
at
Lindbergh's
Spirit o
st.
Louis
after his re
turn
to
the United States.
I d been on
Art Hill dozens
of times
during
my
college
career
and
have
always
marveled
at the
tre
mendous crowds
that
gathered
all over North Amer
ica wherever Lindbergh flew
after
his record-setting
flight. His impact is highlighted by the choice of au
thor Robert Wohl
to
begin this 364-page book with 40
the many
photographs and
illustrations
that
comple
ment the text. There are a couple of layout errors, most
notably
an upside-down reproduction
of a still
from
the movie Hell s Angels of the zeppelin emerging from
the
clouds,
but then
it's
not
as
i f
anyone today
who s
not an aviation enthusiast would recognize an upside
down zeppelin
Wohl is a professor of
history
at the
University
of
California at Los Angeles.
The
Spectacle
o
Flight, pub
lished by Yale University Press, is available from book
stores, identified as ISBN 0-300-10692-0.
Flights
F
orgotten
nd
Remembere
d
Lt
Col. Boardman
C.
Reed
USAF
Ret
.)
Boardman Reed has
been
a VAA member for
de
cades and was, for
many
years, a faithful responder
to
our Mystery Plane
column.
His military career, which
offiCially started
just
before World War II, actually
starts in 1928, when
he began
logging
each
flight ex
perience in meticulous detail. Boardman maintained
his
very
detailed
logs
until
he
was
an
aviation
cadet,
when he simply
no
longer had the time to dedicate
to
such detailed entries.
I ve enjoyed
reading Tom
Brokaw's The Greatest Generation,
but
there s simply
nothing
like
hearing
it
from one
who s been
there,
and Reed certainly was present and active
flying
so
many of the remark
able aircraft of
the
30s,
'40s,
and
'50s.
As
a career military
man, he
started
life
We re
lucky
to
have
had
in the
Army
Air
Corps, transitioning
men like
to
the newly formed
U .S. Air
Force
af
ter the war. Later,
him
when
he
flew all
manner
of civilian aircraft,
we
needed
including
his
good
friend
Pete Bower's
Fly
Baby and Curtiss
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 2006
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Purchased AUA, Inc. years go but left for better rates.
Have since returned to AUA, Inc. for their reliable,
courteous, and now economic policy. Also appreciate
their pilot-friendly exclusions.
- Peter
Novak
Peter
ovak
Bloomington,
L
• Soloed
1969
private same year
•
Commercial
197
• Instrument MEL 1971
• FI 1972;
ATP
1973
• Captain United Airlines 8 777
- 23 000
hours
total
time
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 2006
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YDOUG STEWART
CRM.
In
the
airlines
i t stands for crew
resource
management.
In
the
airplanes you
and
I
fly
it stands
for cockpit resource management. And
unfortunately
for me, it so
often
seems to
stand
for can't remember
much.
(Bear
with
me
a
moment and
I'll
remember
why
I started to write
this
article )
RM
of
distractions
from passengers, air
traffic control
ATC)
,
or
aircraft anomalies.
Suppose you select gear down
as
you enter the down
wind leg of the traffic pattern,
and
you
don't
see
thr
ee
in the
green.
Is
this an emergency situation? Do you
need to have
the
manual
gear
extension procedure
Oh
right
I
remember
now.
CRM
. It's
an
initialism that
many
of us
have
heard, but it's
possible that you really don 't un
derstand how
a
term that's
used
by the airlines could be applied
to the cockpits
of
our personal
airplanes.
If
we
consider
that
it
refers
to
using all available tools,
it could make a bit more sense.
Let's take a look
at
those tools
and
how we
can
use
them
, espe
cially when the
yogurt
starts to
creep
up
above
the
eyeballs. My
list
is not prioritized; because
of
my can't remember m uch,
they ' re listed
as
I think of
them.
Let's see
now
checklists . .
.
they're
a
good
tool (especially
for my personal CRM). I have
If your sectional is
back
in
the luggage
compartment, it isn t
g
oing to do you mu h
good when the
batteries
in
your
handheld PS die.
memorized? The answer
to
both
questions
is
no.
What
should you
do? The answer
is
simple . leave
the traffic pattern, climb to a safe
altitude,
and get out the checklist
This is
not
a procedure that you
have to have memorized. I t
is
not
an
emergency situation ... yet.
Us-
ing
the
checklist will ensure that
you
don't
miss
anything.
Check
lists are one
of
the best tools in
our
CRM
flight bag.
Passengers .
they
sometimes
can be one heck of
a
distrac-
tion,
especially if they have not
been
briefed
on the
sterile cock
pit concept, which is no talking
about
anything
(the
wife
and
kids, the ball game
,
the great
joke
they
just heard, etc.) except
What
about
all the possible resources for informa ceiling. About 10 miles before
reaching
Emporia,
8/20/2019 Vintage Airplane - Mar 2006
35/44
tion that you, or
your
passengers,
might
be referenc
ing? I certainly
hope
you have brought along all the
current and proper charts
that
you might need,
but
I
have
noticed
that many pilots forget
to bring along
a
current
Airport/Facility Directory
AFO) or
other
suit
able reference for airport, NAVAID, and other related
information.
Many pilots
are
now tending
to rely
solely on their
GPS
for
this
information (as well as
the daily lunch special
at
the
airport
restaurant)
but
forget that
i f
the database in the GPS
is not
current,
then the information might
very
well not be reli
able, and if the
batteries
die, that